The present invention relates to the compilation of a source program in an expert system, and more particularly to a source program compiling method and system which are well suited to specify a source program to-be-compiled on the basis of names used in the source program.
As a source program compiling method of this type, there has heretofore been known one wherein the mutual reference relations of names (a program name, a file name, data names, procedure names/paragraph names, etc.) used in each source program are merely output to a printer or the like in the form of a mutual reference list, as stated in, for example, "Manual on Use of Program Product VOS3 COBOL (8090-3-855)", pp. 87-91.
In the prior art mentioned above, the mutual reference relations of the names used in the source programs are merely output to a printer, and it is not considered at all that a file which stores any source program is compiled using the mutual reference list. In the compilation, a user must examine the file in which the source program is stored, before an editing operation is performed by separately starting a text editor. Therefore, operations before the editing operation have been complicated and inefficient.
By way of example, in a case where the user has entered an input erroneously, it is a very difficult job requiring a long time to examine the file storing the source program therein each time so as to search out a place corresponding to the erroneous input. In this regard, if such a place of erroneous input can be found in a short time, the efficiency of the compilation including the correction of the place will be enhanced.